>At least I still have a job! Any of us could probably do well enough in >the self-employed area, but no paid vacations, oh my! : ) > >John Minor >University of Illinois Let's see John, The average CAUT makes $39K, which with the value of benefits added is roughly $50-55K (about $51K here). Let's say your tuning fee is, oh, $75. 3 tuning equivalents a day times five days a week times 48 weeks a year. That's $54K. You've added in your 4 weeks of vacation and should be netting more than the average full time CAUT, by the time you get to deduct commute mileage, tool purchases, etc., which you can't do as an employee. You haven't added in the extra 14 days of state holidays, but you can more than cover that by adding one extra tuning equivalent per week, or sell a few Dampp-Chaser systems or piano covers or something. (we only earn 15 days a year here for paid vacation rather than the 20 I figured in, and my understanding is that now they've cut that to 12, so I'm not all that far off) And the list discussed that one value of being a university employee being free or reduced tuition for family members. Well, that just ain't so. We don't have it here, and my assistant dean told me that it is pretty much being phased out nation wide. My BIGGEST scare about going private is insurance. Health insurance companies can pretty much charge you what they want to charge as you get older or if you have health problems. I know techs who have taken huge pay cuts from their private clientele to accept very low salaried positions at institutions simply because they could not get health insurance any other way. Life Insurance would be similar. It is also tougher to get loans approved when you're self employed than when you have a steady, predictable paycheck from an employer to show lenders. If we could get the 80/20 rule of economics back a little closer to balanced in our country, these budget problems will all go away. But I'm afraid we've spoiled the wealthy class for too long now and it's going to be difficult to recover from. My thoughts, Jeff
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